The invention concerns an apparatus for processing meat, in particular fish, comprising a processing tool, an actuating unit associated with the processing tool for moving the processing tool out of a starting position into a processing position and vice versa, and a control device which is operatively connected to the processing tool or actuating unit for control of the processing tool. Furthermore, the invention concerns a method for processing meat, in particular fish, comprising the steps of: delivering the products to be processed into the region of a processing tool, processing the products by means of the processing tool, and carrying away the processed products out of the region of the processing tool.
Such apparatuses and methods are used in the food-processing industry and in particular in the processing of meat and fish. During processing, that is, usually cutting and/or trimming of meat and in particular fish, it is necessary to control the processing tool or processing tools individually in order to obtain a satisfactory result. By the example of the surface trimming of fish fillets, this means that unwanted and/or value-reducing constituents on the surface of the fish fillets are removed. The constituents to be removed on the one hand, the different positions of the products on the other hand and also different sizes and/or contours and/or topographies here necessitate individual control and in particular adaptation of the cutting pressure to the products to be processed.
In addition to manual processing, which for understandable reasons is very expensive and also very imprecise, apparatuses in which the processing tools perform automated processing are known. For example, it is known that processing tools can be brought into contact with the products to be processed by motor. In DE 10 2005 047 752 B3 can be found an apparatus in which the processing tool is arranged on a flange element. The flange element itself is associated with a lever element which in turn is associated with a rocker arm. The lever element is additionally connected by a compensating element to the rocker arm, to adapt the cutting pressure. The compensating element can be e.g. a spring element or a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder.
A common disadvantage of all the known apparatuses and methods, however, is that firstly they are structurally very elaborate or cumbersome to handle, and secondly stable and functioning processing cannot be achieved with the traditional means. By the example of fish fillets, it is particularly difficult to obtain a satisfactory result when processing the fillet surface. The use of spring elements or a pressure cylinder as the compensating element, particularly in case of rapid or abrupt movements, leads to “overshooting” of the processing tool, which adversely affects the processing quality.